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In pardes, kabaddi is `mah' game

Author: Vivek Chaudhary
Publication: The Times of India
Date: December 14, 2014
URL:   http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/stoi/deep-focus/In-pardes-kabaddi-is-mah-game/articleshow/45509390.cms

For expat Punjabis, kabaddi is more than just sport. Across UK, US and Canada, the game helps cement and celebrate cultural, historical ties
Indian sports fans are currently spoilt for choice with a Test series in Aus tralia underway and the Indian Su per League. Few are likely to be aware however, that there is also a World Cup taking place, attracting 12 nations, capacity crowds and all the excitement and razzmatazz associated with an international sports competition.
Last Saturday's lavish opening ceremony of the Kabaddi World Cup at the Guru Gobind stadium in Jalandhar, with Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha as the headline act, may have received little recognition beyond Punjab but it was a testament to the way this traditional, rustic sport is pushing the boundaries, and not just physically.

Before you dismiss the Kabaddi World Cup as a gathering of expatriate Punjabis who have not integrated properly in the country they now call home, take note of the structure of the teams participating as evidence of some of the changes the sport is undergoing.

There was something almost surreal about watching women's kabaddi teams from England, the US and New Zealand -not having a single player of Indian origin -enter the stadium. Likewise the men's teams from Argentina, Spain and Denmark. They were all introduced to the sport by Punjabis settled in these countries. The steamy Latino looks of the Mexico women's team caused a typically boisterous Punjabi crowd to fall silent, which in itself is something of an achievement. The bulk of the teams at this World Cup, however, are made up of expatriate Punjabis and in countries such as England, Canada and the US, kabaddi has become more than just a sport, enjoying a thriving annual season where it is used to maintain and celebrate cultural, historical and religious ties.

Punjabis -more than any other group of Indians -have taken kabaddi to their hearts, even inventing their own form of the game. While the rest of India plays what is known as national style, which takes place in a rectangular area and is more team-based, Punjab prefers the `circle' or Punjabi-style kabaddi, which is more confrontational.

For the past year I have been documenting and researching kabaddi in England.Each year, from May to August, 12 teams representing towns and cities where Punjabis have settled play against each other, attracting crowds of up to 5,000.

During the course of the 2014 season, I was part of the Slough Kabaddi team, travelling around the country with them to matches, forming close bonds with the players and management and experiencing for myself the sport's deeper significance.

The weekly tournaments have become part of the sporting calendar for the Punjabi community . They are often held in memory of Sikh gurus, and attending them feels as if Punjab has been transposed to an English field for a few hours. Match commentators are only too happy to constantly remind all those present that kabaddi is “mah game“.

Most of the teams comprise full-time players who are brought over from villages in India Punjab or Pakistan Punjab for the season by consortiums of midlevel businessmen of Indian (Punjabi) origin. It can cost anything up to £1,50,000 to put a team together with the top players earning up to £30,000.

For these village boys, kabaddi is a highly lucrative profession that has enabled them to lead comfortable lives, build houses, buy land and support their families Despite its popularity however, kabaddi is being affected by some fundamental changes taking place within the British Punjabi community as a new generation becomes more integrated. For them kabaddi is an alien sport, often derided and they do not want to play it.

Goldy Sandhu, president of the England Kabaddi Federation who also runs Slough Kabaddi Club, says: “Kabaddi has given these villages boys a life beyond their wildest dreams. English-born Punjabis just don't want to play it but for us it is a sport that runs in our blood.

“We play kabaddi to keep our culture alive. But it now needs to spread and this is why it is so inspiring to see so many countries participating at this World Cup.“

Another significant aspect of kabaddi is that it is not afflicted by the same intense India-Pakistan rivalry of other sports. At its core, it is seen as Punjab's game, regardless of which side of the border you come from.

Pakistan has sent both a men's and women's team to the World Cup and they were greeted like relatives by their Punjabi counterparts from India and beyond when they entered the stadium for last week's opening ceremony .

The Slough team I followed was made up of seven players from India Punjab and five from Pakistan Punjab, who also lived in the same house and regularly cooked for each other. Indian and Pakistani players in the other teams participating in England's annual tournament also lived and played together. A significant proportion of spectators at the matches were from England's PakistaniPunjabi community .

India and Pakistan are the strongest men's teams at this year's World Cup and favourites to meet in the final on December 20. India and New Zealand are tipped to meet in the women's final. Both promise to be gripping encounters and those watching would do well to remember that there is more to kabaddi than meets the eye.
 
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